Better, but still not quite there.

I liked this better than the first one, especially at the end. This was bound to happen since I’m spending so much time with these characters, and Abraham is a consistent, talented writer. The first half continued a lot of the issues I had with the first book, though, so I can’t really give this four stars. Maybe the third book will earn it?

It’s been a little over a year since the start of the series. Geder Palliako has gone from social pariah to Lord Regent of Antea. Cithrin is still at her Bank in Porte Oliva, but the bank has foisted upon her a notary who has basically taken all control out of Cithrin’s hands. She decides to seek out the head of the Medean bank and win him over so she can get at least some control of her bank back. While she’s away, civil war comes to Antea and Marcus just about loses his mind with worry over her, so Yardem kind of sort of betrays him so he doesn’t do something stupid. This leads Marcus to team up with Master Kit, who reveals to him that he’s a former priest of the spider goddess and enlists him in his quest to destroy her and prevent the priests from remaking the world. Also, Dawson Kalliam is the one who starts the civil war because he realizes that Geder is being controlled by the priests. This leads to a chain of events that culminate in Geder meeting Cithrin, and ends (spoiler) with Dawson’s death.

Really, a whole bunch of stuff happens in this book. It actually moves quite quickly plotwise for a fantasy novel. The problem is I still find myself emotionally distant from everything that’s happening. His writing is so understated and bloodless at times that even exciting events are muffled for me. I will probably continue out the series, but it’s not going to be on my favorites or anything like that. At the very least, it’s interesting.